The Saba steel plant, which is yet to be officially inaugurated, was producing at about 1 million mt/year and was expected to reach full capacity within a year, he said.

MSC had the capacity to produce 10.3 million mt/year of crude steel, including output from its affiliated plants of Hormozgan Steel Co. and Saba Steel, he added.

MSC produced 4.17 million mt of crude steel over April-September, the first six months of the current Iranian year, up 14% year on year, according to data from state-owned Iranian Mines & Mining Industries Development & Renovation, or Imidro.

Domestic demand for flat steel products as well as an antidumping probe by the European Union pushed down MSC's exports 60% year on year to 427,390 mt over April-September, Imidro data showed.

The EU announced last Friday an antidumping duty of Euro 57.50 ($68)/mt on imports of HRC from Iran.

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